Allele
by Cinerari
Summary: SPCH-verse; Karma can be a cruel mistress, and Daiba's murdered one too many Mazone.
1. Bleed Like Organisms Of Malice

**Remember that time I was actually nice to Daiba and didn't write a fic just to cause him pain? Yeah, me neither. Hmm, this is going to be a weird one.**

**Anyway, sorry for any mistakes and hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The only warning Harlock was given was the short yell of surprise as Daiba's footing was ripped out from under him. The teen gabbed and clawed at the soft earth below, but there was nothing solid to hold onto, and he found himself being dragged back toward the unearthly forest. His captain caught sight of the vine around his ankle and drew his saber as he rushed toward his struggling crewman.

"Captain, get it off!" Daiba demanded, his gloves ripping apart at the effort of trying to dig into the ground.

Harlock raised his weapon and fired, but the shot was thrown wildly to the side by the sudden intrusion of another thick vine slamming into his saber. He easily cut it before it could do any further damage, but as he turned back to Daiba, he found the teen disappearing into the thick foliage. Sheer desperation began to fill the blond's face.

Without any other option, Harlock lunged for his crewman's hand. He caught it, and for a moment, relief washed over the younger. Then his hand slipped out of his tattered glove, and he was swallowed by the sentient jungle.

"Get on your back and shoot it!" Harlock yelled as he scrambled to his feet. He put out a call to the Arcadia, which was still in the midst of repairs, before diving into the death sentence of a forest.

The air was thick with humidity and the crashing sounds of the wind through the trees. So this was a Mazone planet. They should have realized sooner.

There should have been an obvious trail where Daiba had been drug through, but Harlock could only guess that the plants were growing to cover it. He had nothing to follow. "Daiba!?" he yelled as he started off in the direction he felt was his best guess.

His answer came in the form of an agonized scream that cut off sharply, vanishing beneath the rustling canopy. Harlock forced all possible reasons for the sound from his mind as he ran toward it.

The plants surrounding him showed no signs of unnatural movement. Surely he was being led into a trap, but why not wear him down while they had the chance? Then again, there was a reason his strategies always won out over theirs.

The roots underfoot were trying their best to trip him up, but he kept on easily at a sprint until a small form stepped out from behind a tree right where he was headed. Impact was unavoidable. Daiba gave a harsh wheeze, getting tossed back and likely bruising his tailbone.

With his momentum transferred, Harlock had no trouble regaining his footing. A quick examination of his crewman brought him no shortage of confusion. The front of the black and green uniform was scratched and muddied, much like the gloves, but Daiba had little more than a few cuts.

"Are you alright?" the captain questioned.

"'Bout as much as I can be," the teen grumbled, regaining his feet. "Damn plants."

"Did you get it?"

"I guess so." He glanced back over his shoulder. "I shot it from my back like you said to, and I killed it."

"Why did you scream then?"

"That wasn't me," the teen huffed. "That was the plant when it went all up in flames."

"Sounded like you," Harlock frowned. He hadn't seen any flames, but he supposed he hadn't been close enough.

"It was a dude plant! And anyway, I don't scream."

Harlock begged to differ, but he decided to leave that alone. "Let's get out of here before any more show up. We don't need to stay within their element."

"But we didn't find any ores," Daiba protested.

"We can make do without them until we get to the next hospitable planet. It's too dangerous to stay here, and you should probably get yourself something new to wear."

The teen frowned down at his outfit as though he'd just noticed the damage. "Oh, yeah." He glanced back over his shoulder once more before following after his captain. "You should have seen it," he called. "It was really awesome the way I shot that thing!"

"I'm sure," Harlock offered.

He absolutely hadn't heard a shot fired.

Kei was waiting for them at the edge of the forest, her worry quickly morphing to irritation as they came into view. "Daiba, what did you do to your clothes? I can't fix something that damaged," she scolded.

The teen rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause I did this on purpose."

Kei placed her hands to her hips, frowning down at him. "You're lucky we have an extra or you'd be wearing one of mine."

Wouldn't be much different, Harlock thought as the two continued to bicker. They argued like children until they made it back to the ship. From there Kei went back to her post on the bridge and Daiba started toward his room to change.

"Hang on," the captain ordered. "Stop by the infirmary first and have Zero check you over."

"What for?" his crewman blinked. "I'm fine."

"Just in case."

Daiba watched curiously as his captain turned and headed for the bridge as well. That was weird. Really, he was fine, but he decided to actually follow orders and went to see Zero.

The doctor stared at his state with mild disinterest. "Well, get your shirt off," the man said at length. Can't see a thing through all that mud."

"I'm fine," Daiba repeated, pulling off his top.

"Sure." After a quick once-over and a blood sample, the doctor gave a shrug. "You seem to have come out of that pretty well. Put some disinfectant on those cuts, and you should be fine." He tossed the teen a bottle of disinfectant spray then waved him away. "Come back if you start feeling sick or something."

Once he'd returned to his room, he changed into a fresh uniform, new gloves starched and stiff against his movements. The spray burned his skin, so he threw it away. What sort of infection was he going to get from a plant anyway?

He should have been used to near-death experiences by now, but he could still feel tremors of the terror that had overtaken his senses. Death was frightening, but helplessness was hellish. There was nothing worse than feeling out of control of your own life. Somehow he'd managed to ward off his shaking before the captain had found him, but now it returned.

"Just calm down," he scolded himself in a whisper. "You're fine. You're alive. Nothing happened. You're acting like a child. You saved yourself, so calm down, damnit."

He grabbed for his harmonica, hoping for something normal to steady himself. When he placed it to his lips, a split, ragged note rang through the room. For a moment he sat stunned. Then with a mocking laugh he flipped the instrument over. God, he was out of it. If he could just calm down.

"Everything's fine," he murmured, crushing the palm of his hand to his eye. "Everything's going to be alright."

Without warning, he ran to the bathroom. A painful gagging tightened his stomach and chest, forcing him to hack up a bitter mouthful of blood into the sink. "E-everything's going to be alright," he choked. "I'm…I'm better than this." After washing his mouth out, he readjusted his appearance and headed back toward the bridge, his harmonica clenched tightly in his hand. Hopefully that would be the end of his illness for the day.

When the blond stepped back on the bridge, Harlock threw a quick once-over his way. It was all too simple. The whole thing – it seemed too easy to the captain. Daiba had gotten out of that too cleanly. The teen was lucky, but not that lucky. There should have at least been some damage.

But…he was being paranoid with no proper evidence to back himself up. Daiba _could_ have only gotten those few cuts. It was possible. Maybe Harlock had just not heard the gunfire because he'd been too focused on running. After all, his crewman was acting his usual self. The captain just felt bothered by the whole thing, and he couldn't place why. It was…irritating.

"Everything check out?" he called as the teen took his seat.

"Yeah, no problems."

Daiba kicked his feet up on the console in front of him, slumping down in his chair. Waiting for repairs to finish was boring. Just sitting around on the ship was boring. For once he didn't mind the lack of excitement, but that didn't mean he wasn't bored.

He glanced around, searching for something interesting. Kei looked to be working on something as usual. The fist mate played with his models. Miime drank. The bird had probably already been drinking. And the captain was frowning at nothing, though the teen had sworn he'd felt the man's eye on him moments before.

There wasn't too much noise, but enough that he wouldn't be breaking any silence if he played a small song. He brought up his harmonica again, making sure it was turned the right direction. This time he was at least calm. Now…what did he want to play?

The thought struck him as odd. Usually he could just pick a first note without thought. It didn't even need to be a proper song. The notes would simply fall into place for him. He picked a note – slot five, a middle E. It sounded sharp to his ears, foreign. He moved to another place, searching for a warmer note, but he found himself playing a higher one instead. Low notes to the left, he scolded himself. That was practically the first thing he'd learned.

He knew all the technicalities. He could name every note, but actually trying to play put him at a loss. His mind and his body wouldn't work together, and everything sounded wrong to him, piercing his ears. It was all so unpleasant.

But he knew how to play. He had to know. His song then – his father's song. He knew that one by heart. He closed his eyes.

A split note rang through the room, two sounds clashing. The instrument nearly fell from his hands.

That was the song he always used to calm himself down, like his captain had done in that forest. It was his link back to his past and to a better life. If he didn't have that…if they'd taken even that from him…

He wanted to run. He needed to hear that song one way or another, to make sure he could remember it. It was all he could do not to dash to his room. But his captain was watching him, like he had been from the moment he'd been found in the forest.

The blond forced himself to wait a few minutes before standing and heading back toward his room, his knuckles white as he grasped the small instrument. Harlock stopped him as he began to move past the captain's chair.

"What's wrong, Daiba?"

"Nothing."

"Something wrong with your harmonica?"

"No. I'm just going to bed."

"You shouldn't sleep so much."

"Yes, Captain."

The teen made a break for it then, continuing forward before his captain could say anything else. The man was suspicious of something, but Harlock always seemed suspicious. It didn't matter right now anyway.

As soon as he reached his room, Daiba curled up on his bed, holding his hands over his ears. He began to hum. It was all he could do now. The sound was deafening along with the blood roaring in his ears, but it was what he wanted.

He imagined his mother and his father and how happy they'd been. They really were his mother and father. They were. They'd given him his life, and they would surely be proud of him if they knew what all he'd done in their names.

He brought the harmonica to his chest. "I'll just have to re-learn it," he whispered, tears dripping from his eyes. "Everything's going to be alright. I'm Tadashi Daiba. They can't take that from me."

* * *

Harlock had complete faith in his crew. Even if they were lying, he believed it was because it was in their best interest to do so, and he wouldn't question it. If Daiba said nothing was wrong, he would respect the boy's decision to give that answer. And the blond could very well have been telling the truth.

That didn't mean the captain couldn't go question Zero a bit. After the teen and most of the others headed for bed, Harlock paid the drinking doctor a visit. "How was Daiba?" he asked.

Zero shrugged. "Nothing abnormal."

"Did you run blood work?"

"Yep."

"And nothing showed."

"Nothing," the doctor confirmed. "Something up, Captain?"

"No," Harlock frowned. "Everything seems to be fine."

Zero took a slow drink of sake, eyeing the captain over the glass. "I'll run some more tests," he said at length. Standing, he found a capped syringe and tossed it to the taller male. "Here, get me a blood sample. Do it when he's not paying attention."

The captain gave a curt nod before taking his leave. It wouldn't be difficult to get. Daiba was never paying attention. Trying to explain stealing a blood sample on the other hand… Well, if the teen had nothing to hide, he wouldn't have a need to be concerned.

By the next morning, once they'd lifted off, he already had his opportunity. The blond wasn't particularly a morning person, and he'd begin to doze at his station. Making his steps lighter to ease the clanging of his spurs, Harlock stepped up behind the teen and jammed the needle into the side of his neck. Daiba yelped, falling sideways out of his chair, but not before the captain had his sample.

"What was that!?" the young man wheezed.

"What was what?" the elder blinked, the vial already hidden away behind his belt.

His youngest crewman glanced around in confusion, rubbing at his sore neck. "Do you think we could have bees on the ship?"

"I wouldn't think so."

"Oh… Did you stab me, Captain?"

It surprised the man that Daiba would actually think to ask that, but the teen revealed an embarrassed smile. Oh, it was a joke then. Harlock allowed a moment's amusement to pass through his eyes before helping his crewman back to his feet.

"Maybe if you weren't sleeping, you'd see whatever it was that stung you," the captain noted.

"Yeah, whatever," the teen yawned, plopping back down in his seat.

When the captain turned, he found Kei staring at him in confusion. He flicked his gaze to the door, indicating her to follow as he headed out toward the infirmary. "Captain?" she called as she came up behind him in the hallway.

Without looking her way, he held out the vial of blood. She took it, quickly understanding his meaning. "Is he alright?" she questioned nervously. The blood was a lighter red than it should have been, almost pastel. It was as though someone had watered it down.

"That's what I intend to find out," Harlock nodded. "Now go and keep an eye on him."

She hesitated before handing the sample back and turning on her heel, wondering whether she was watching him because they were worried about him or because they didn't trust him.

"It's too early, Captain," Zero grumbled as the taller male appeared in the infirmary, but the doctor took the sample and groggily placed it into the computer to examine. "Well…" He frowned, rubbing his chin as he stared at the collecting data.

"What is it?"

"Honestly, Captain, I'm not sure. It's not… Well, it just isn't making any sense." He removed the sample, placing it in a centrifuge and flicking the machine on. "It has all the markings of blood," he explained. "It's certainly Daiba's blood, but there's something else there. It's intermingling with the blood, but it's not quite combining with it."

Once the centrifuge finished its course, the doctor pulled the vial out. There were three layers within – cells, platelets, and whatever obviously wasn't supposed to be there. It was clear, but ever so slightly green. "What is that?" Harlock questioned.

"Hell if I know, but there's twice as much of it than his actual blood. If this is constant throughout his body, he should be dead." The doctor pulled a sample of it, placing it on a slide. Once more he ran it through the computer.

Harlock couldn't read the doctor's expression as the results came up. His face changed before it could set, bitterness and confusion flashing through his eyes in an instant. "Captain…this is glucose. And there are traces of plant matter. This is the same structure as what makes up the Mazone."

The captain tried to understand, but nothing made sense. There were no possible explanations. "Why is it in his blood?" he asked, hoping for a straight answer.

"It's less that it's in his blood… More like his blood's in it."

"What are you saying?"

"Like I said before, if this makes up two-thirds of his blood stream, which it may not – that is an isolated sample, but it would kill a human if it did. But a Mazone… Well, minus the blood, that is the make-up of a Mazone."

"Go get him," the captain ordered, unflinching. "Bring him here."

"Yes sir," Zero sighed.

While he waited for his youngest crewman to appear, Harlock attempted to plan out some straight questions – something he could ask without letting his emotions slip through. If that wasn't Daiba, where was Daiba?

But by the time the teen entered the room, looking mildly confused, the captain's anger had risen. He had nothing planned. He knew that if this wasn't Daiba, this thing could be dangerous. So without further thought, he grabbed the front of the blond's shirt and dragged him toward the back of the room.

"Wait-wait-wait!" Daiba squeaked. "It wasn't my fault this time! I swear! I didn't do anything!"

The captain threw him roughly to his back on a metal slab. "Stay still," the elder commanded, pressing the switch to snap the metal cuffs into place.

"O-okay." He didn't have much of a choice at this point.

"What happened in that forest?" Harlock demanded, his eye boring down into his crewman.

"I-I told you what happened!"

"Then tell me the truth this time."

Daiba faltered, hesitating. "That was-," he began weakly, but the captain cut him off.

The man stormed toward the centrifuge, holding up the separated sample. "It wasn't the truth. I want the truth. What is this?"

"How should I know!?" the blond yelled, desperate. Fear leaked into his voice, raising its pitch.

"This is your blood!" Harlock snapped, moving back to hold it in front of the teen's face. "Now tell me why there's more Mazone than human to your blood!"

"I don't know!" The young pirate began to struggle against his restraints, his breathing picking up. "Let me go! You're acting crazy! The doctor said I was fine yesterday!"

That was true. The captain considered it. His voice leveled again as he calmed. "Then why aren't you fine today? What is this?"

"I-I don't…don't know." Daiba was steadily growing paler, his fear weakening his resolve. Harlock had never known his youngest crewman to be so afraid of being reprimanded. The teen knew something.

The stronger male grabbed the smaller, dragging him up until the restraints at his wrists were dangerously close to breaking them. "You're not Daiba, are you?" the captain questioned, his voice low with a threat.

"No, I am! Look at me – I'm Daiba!"

"Then why don't I believe you?"

"Because you're crazy!"

The doctor, who had been working quietly on his own, trying to avoid the whole ordeal, moved wordlessly toward the two with a full syringe in hand.

"W-what is that?" the teen questioned in terror.

"It's not harmful," Zero assured him. "It will just bring out the correct pigments in your skin."

"What do you mean correct!?" Daiba snapped.

"I was experimenting with that blood sample. This should work."

"Should-!?" He cut off sharply as the needle made its way into his arm.

"Hold still or it's going to hurt," the doctor huffed at the struggling blond.

"How does it work, doctor?" Harlock frowned as the clear liquid was injected.

"It changes the reflected wavelengths of whichever the rejected pigments are to match that of the others – the ones being accepted by the body. It's actually very simple."

Harlock decided not to ask any further questions of how or why.

Daiba winced, expecting further pain from the serum, but he only felt his body growing cooler. This didn't seem good.

Harlock watched in awe as the serum did its work, a familiar pale green spreading over the peach tone of his youngest crewman's skin. The blond of his hair too was slowly dyed a slightly darker green, seeping down from the roots to the tips. Even his irises melted to a deep, forest green.

The captain felt his hand on his gun. Without thought he raised it, placing it against Daiba's – no – the Mazone's temple. "Now I'm going to ask you again what happened in that forest, and this time you're going to tell me the truth. You're also going to tell me where Daiba is."

"I-I am Daiba," it stuttered. "O-oh hell, I-I'm gonna puke." He turned his head to the side, choking up a think emerald liquid.

"What?" Harlock frowned.

"That's blood, isn't it?" the doctor questioned curiously. "It's just green because of the serum. That's Daiba's blood. Your body's rejecting it. Am I right?"

The shivering male wasn't allowed to answer. "Why do you have Daiba's blood then?" the captain demanded. He pressed the tip of his gun into the thing's temple, hard enough to leave a round indentation.

"Because I am Daiba," it whimpered. "I'm…" He found his reflection in a mirror across the room. His skin was the very green he hated – the color he'd sought out to kill for all this time. "Oh God," he choked, sobs rising in his throat. "I-I'm a Mazone. No, I-I… You weren't supposed to see me like this." Tears poured from his pained eyes. "I'm not… I'm human! I-I am! I…I was. Please, let me go back! I don't want to look like this!"

Harlock waited for his answers as the thing calling itself Daiba cried brokenly. "If you explain," the man said. "I'll listen."

"You won't believe me though," the Mazone laughed bitterly. "But I guess that's just fair. I wouldn't have believed me either."

* * *

**Hmm yes, science. ** **If you'll just ignore my made-up science in this chapter, I'll do my best to explain it all later. Promise. It all makes sense and is most certainly not just a product of me being cruel to lil plant Daiba.**

**Ah, but thanks for reading! Big thanks for my lovely buddy Blusey for helping me out!**


	2. Life Ends And Fails

**The adventures of green Daiba continue. He's awfully green and whiny. Flowery too. What do you mean Mazone don't sprout flowers? Shhh they totally can. They just don't bring it up.**

**As usual, I'm sorry for any mistakes. It's awfully early in the morning. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

"If you're going to try to convince me you're Daiba," Harlock began irritably, "you can start by acting like a man."

"I'm sorry! I can't stop crying!" the Mazone sobbed. "M-my tears taste sugary."

This was not really happening. The captain sighed, replacing his gun in its holster. He didn't have the patience to deal with this…being. At least that was reminiscent of Daiba.

"You produce glucose," the doctor explained. "You're a plant. Of course it would be sugary."

"I don't know that much about plants," the boy hiccupped. After another moment he began to calm himself with slow, practiced breaths. "It's funny, isn't it?" he laughed nervously. "It doesn't feel any different, but I guess I breathe in carbon dioxide now, and I breathe out oxygen. It's like we're balanced to keep each other alive. Plants aren't really supposed to breathe though."

"Don't try to change the subject," Harlock frowned, crossing his arms. "Tell us what happened."

"T-they changed me," the young Mazone whispered. "They made me into this."

"Who?" the captain questioned.

"The Mazone in that forest. They took my DNA and made me this body, but it doesn't work right. Humans and Mazone just can't be stuck together."

"So you're some sort of clone?" Zero frowned.

"I guess so."

"Then where's our Daiba?" Harlock asked.

"I-I am your Daiba," it whispered sorrowfully.

The captain couldn't simply believe that. But it was easy to believe that one of the Mazone had disguised itself as his youngest crewman and was now desperately attempting to escape trouble. "But if you're a clone, then you're not the original," he reasoned.

"Well, I mean, I'm still your Daiba. I'm…" His gaze fell. "I'm the only Daiba. You can say that I'm not the original, but I'm the only one, and I am Daiba."

"Explain," the captain growled. "We're just running in circles otherwise."

"The Mazone explained everything to me… Well, sort of. I guess they…poured all the information into my head. They told me what I was, that they'd saved me, brought me 'salvation'. This body was born in that forest, but they put my blood and my thoughts and my soul in it."

"That's impossible," the doctor scoffed.

"I know. That wasn't exactly what was supposed to happen actually. " The Mazone's mossy eyes drifted to Harlock. "I was supposed to be their perfect puppet, made in my human body's image to bring down this ship. They just didn't expect that I would fight back. They didn't realize that making me a perfect copy would make me the same person. I am Daiba." He smiled, hoping for recognition. "I have all my memories, all the same abilities and feelings. They transferred everything. I am Daiba!"

The captain stared him down. "You know," he began at length, "I can't simply believe you. You're a Mazone, and putting any faith in what you say would go completely against what Daiba would have done in the first place. So what happened to him?"

The hope in the green eyes flickered out. Slowly, anger replaced it. "He is me. Don't talk about me like I'm someone else, because I am Tadashi Daiba!"

"You said this was a different body though," the doctor countered. "So where is your human body?"

"It's buried in that fucking forest!" the Mazone snarled. "I died! The moment I got on my back, they sent tree roots into it and up through my chest! Then I was waking up in this god-forsaken body, and they told me I had to kill you, all of you! But I fought back! I-! I…"

The young Mazone's expression softened. His eyelids slid shut, as though the story itself was draining him. "I endured it to protect all of you. I thought that would make me good enough. I thought you'd accept me."

"Then why keep it all secret? Why lie?" Harlock questioned irritably. His youngest crewman had been killed. That was the only thing he could truly believe, and though he'd begun to expect it, it still felt like a punch to the gut.

When his crewman's glove had slipped from his hand, that had been one of the teen's last moments, still hoping his captain would be able to help him. But Daiba's luck had apparently run out, and the captain had failed to protect him. And if the blond was dead, then dealing with this thing felt insulting.

"I didn't want you to see me like this," it explained. "I didn't want to look like this. And anyway," he laughed mockingly. "It's not like you believe me." His eyes flashed open as he tugged against his restraints, reminding them that he was still tied down.

However, the captain still had no intentions of releasing him. "You've got to understand the position we're in. How am I supposed to accept that you're Daiba when this could so easily be a trick?"

"I don't know…how to make you believe me," the boy sighed. "All I can do is tell you what happened and what I know."

The doctor tilted his head curiously. "So you say the Mazone explained everything to you. What's everything?"

"They told me they'd made me from my blood. They took my DNA and made a mold to look like me and stuck my blood in it along with my memories. Not really sure how they did all that, but I don't think I want to know. And like you said, my body's not made for blood, so it rejects it, but at the same time, I keep producing it. It's like they made a human body out of plant material. I was just supposed to pass, not last."

"So when I took that blood sample, you were able to give only your regular blood."

The Mazone nodded. "I can get rid of the excess blood through my skin, but that's really freaky, so it ends up building up until I throw up."

"You can get rid of it…through your skin?" Harlock echoed.

"Sure, I can do a ton of weird shit," the boy shrugged as best he could in his restraints. He cupped his hand as a small pool of the thick, green liquid began to fill his palm. "How much longer am I going to be green?" he frowned. "It's hard enough trying to keep my skin from turning like this usually"

The doctor waved his question away. "It'll fade in a few hours. What else can you do?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"Because most Mazone burn up before I can learn much about them. I can always cut you open if it comes to that, so please continue."

The green pirate wasn't fond of that idea. "I dunno. I can do this." From the blood, a bud grew. It bloomed into a simple white flower with a wide, black center. "Actually, I wonder…" The small pool of blood shrank away as the petals were dyed a lightened green. "Oh," the Mazone blinked. "Guess I can do that too."

"You can make flowers," the captain remarked dryly.

"I can make plants and interact with plants, and it's dumb as all hell. This sucks." He tossed the flower away. "I am a goddamn plant."

It was at least acting more like Daiba now.

Harlock considered it. He couldn't trust this thing, even if it really was Daiba. If it was supposed to be a puppet sent to kill them, what was stopping it from being just that? "So what are you going to do then?" the captain questioned. "Are you still going to kill all the Mazone?"

"Of course! Those bitches made me like this. They have to pay for it."

Harlock stared the lookalike down, waiting for some hint that it was lying. "I'm going to let you go, but don't think that means I trust you. There won't be a single moment that I don't know where you are on this ship," he warned. "You will be accompanied by at least two people at all times, except when you are in your room. Then you'll be alone, and you'll stay there. We'll monitor your room so that if you leave for any reason, I'll know about it. Until the day comes that I believe I can trust you, you have no freedoms aboard this ship. And if I see any reason, you'll go straight to the brig as a prisoner. Don't give me a reason."

"Y-yes sir," the Mazone squeaked.

While the captain continued to glare at him, the locks on the boy sprung open, allowing him to move freely again. He sat up, rubbing at his wrists. "You're going to tell everyone, aren't you?" he sighed.

"I don't keep secrets from my crew, especially not ones that could endanger their lives."

"I'd never hurt any of you. You don't know just what I'd give to be human again." He wondered if they'd willingly call him their comrade after this, after they all found out. Maybe they wouldn't even call him by his name.

Word spread so quickly around the Arcadia that by the time he was able to place the mask back on his skin, he was already given stares in the hallway. Everyone went quiet at the sight of him. They avoided him. He was the enemy. He would have tried to explain, but it didn't matter. They wouldn't believe him. They probably all thought he'd killed "their" Daiba. And in a way, maybe it was true.

If he went to his room, he decided he'd just be running away. He needed to face them, to show them that he was still the same. God, he wanted to be the same. Their gazes burned him, reminding him every moment that he wasn't.

Hoping for escape, he went to the bridge. Someone…_someone_ had to trust him. Anyone.

Kei slowly looked up to him as he entered the room. Loss filled her expression, but he could cheer her up. He just had to show her that he was the same. As he moved to her, he felt as though he was walking on glass. This was just Kei. He just had to act normal.

"Hey," he greeted nervously. "I guess…they told you, but I bet they didn't tell you everything so-"

"The captain told me everything," she murmured, shaking her head. Her eyes flicked over him. "We all know now, so what's the point of hiding?"

"I'm not hiding," he frowned, confused. "I know I'm one of them biologically, but I'm still myself."

"Then why hide under a fake skin?"

He winced, taking a step back from her. "I'm not… I don't want to look like that."

"But it's who you are."

"N-no," he shook his head frantically. "I'm… I want to be human."

She reached out, taking one of his hands in both of hers. "I want to believe it, that you're him, but I have to see it for myself. Please show me what you really look like."

It was easy to slip out of the false skin, made from forcing his blood toward the surface. "I'm sorry," he whispered as it faded to the soft green.

Her grip tightened on his hand. She tried to force herself to keep her eyes on him, but she broke, her gaze dropping. "It's not your fault. If you are him, you have nothing to apologize for."

"You don't need to say if," he pleaded. "It is me."

She swallowed thickly, bringing her eyes back up to his. "I hope it is. I really hope so. But this is all starting to feel like a dream, and I just want to wake up from it."

"Me too," he sighed. "But it's not a dream. I have to get used to being like this, because I don't have a choice. But if you believe in me, then I've at least got something. I know it's hard because even I can't, but if you could accept me like this…I'll at least not feel like a complete monster." A bushel of flowers bloomed from the hand grasped in hers, and grabbing their stems, he held them out for her. He didn't know what they were called or why they came to him, only that the small white flowers felt like a gesture of trust, of friendship.

Her hands slipped from his. She placed one over her mouth, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of the blossoms. Shaking her head, she stood before quickly moving away from him and out the door. The flowers wilted and died in his hand as his heart sank.

He found his captain watching him curiously from his seat. "Are you all going to hate me?" the boy questioned.

"Perhaps flowers aren't the answer," the captain noted.

"Flowers are words," Daiba whispered, bringing his cupped hands up to his mouth and breathing into them. "They say more than I can." He opened his hands to reveal a single orange blossom.

"Language of flowers?" Harlock questioned. "I suppose that makes sense."

"I don't know," the Mazone murmured. "I don't know anything. I don't know if I can stand being one of them if you're all going to see me as one too.

"We may grow to trust you if we see fit to," the captain noted. "If it were anyone else, we'd be doing the same thing."

Daiba wasn't so sure. "Captain… If I asked you to kill me, would you?"

"I would." There was no hesitation.

"Alright… I'll remember that." The flower's coloring was overtaken by a deep red. "I'm going to go to bed."

The captain nodded, and the boy left, the flower falling to scattered petals. Across the room, a small girl watched them drift to the ground like snowflakes. That was a marigold, she thought. What a sad flower.

The boy returned to his room, collapsing onto his bed. Of course no one would want to trust in him. Every time someone had put his trust in a Mazone, it was only a matter of time before he was stabbed in the back. Daiba knew that all too well.

He couldn't do the job the Mazone had given him, and his friends didn't believe him. Neither party wanted him, and at that point, all he wanted was to feel accepted by someone. He wasn't human, and he wasn't a Mazone, so what was his title?

"Guess I'm just a freak," he muttered, creating more flowers to free himself of the blood flowing through his veins. No point in hiding anymore. If they weren't going to accept him, he might as well just keep his skin its natural color. Even if he did mask that green he hated so much, he'd still remember that his human skin was fake. He just wished he could have been fake for everyone else a little longer.

Sleep should have been an escape from reality, but in his dreams he found himself staring down the barrel of the gun of every person he'd come to trust aboard the Arcadia. He pleaded with them, reminding them who he was. It didn't make a difference. None of them batted an eye as they pulled the trigger. Then the flames came. He screamed, as they consumed his flesh, reducing him to dust. Just like every single one he'd ever killed. He became nothing.

He awoke shaking, breathing in relieving gasps of air. His world was falling apart. Everything was crumbling away to ashes. He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to live.

"I need to stop feeling so sorry for myself," he laughed weakly. "I'll just kill them all, just like I always said I would. And when they're all dead…when it's just me…" He would take the life of every Mazone. Then he would be the last one. Stuck in this broken body.

Maybe it was the Mazone who had gotten their revenge on him.

* * *

**I don't think Daiba's in enough pain yet. I should put him through more anguish.**

**Alright, real quick. I may end up playing around with the flower language a bit more than I should, so here's a run-down of plant language if you're curious. It's not really important. I was just having fun with it.**

**The first flower is an anemone, which can mean forsaken/anticipation.**  
**Next is pear blossoms = lasting friendship**  
**Last is your marigold = pain and grief.**


	3. Find Love Or Water, Each Required

**And now we're at the part where I try my best to make sure it fits into continuity even though it'll all fall apart in a chapter or two, and then I'll just give up. Enjoy your read, loves!**

* * *

While sleep wasn't fun, Daiba decided it was less upsetting than the waking world. The second time he jolted awake from a dark dream, he found himself with a face-full of blood-red flowers. "The hell?" he murmured, dragging himself up.

"You made them in your sleep."

The teen nearly fell from his bed in startled surprise. "Ahh! Shit!" He suddenly realized who the owner of the small voice was, standing just in front of his closed door. "Uh I mean…shoot." Harlock probably wouldn't want him teaching curse words to his goddaughter.

"I scared you!" Mayu sang, giggling. She tiptoed up to the side of his bed, staring at the green-skinned boy as though he were some sort of zoo animal. "Why are you so upset, Mr. Daiba?"

But the Mazone had more important questions on his mind. "H-how long have you been in here?"

"I dunno. Just a little bit. You were making flowers with your hands." She climbed onto the foot of the bed, sitting down across from him. "They're really pretty. Can I see some?"

As she held out her hand, Daiba backed away, pressing himself against the wall. "You can't be in here, Mayu. The captain'll kill me."

"Why?" she frowned. "Harlock wouldn't hurt you."

The teen glanced over himself. Yep, still a plant. He wondered if the girl was still suffering from PTSD after her ordeal. Surely the Mazone hadn't brainwashed her to like them or anything.

"Mayu…aren't you scared of me?"

"Why?"

"Because…I'm one of them." Admitting it aloud made his throat turn dry. He was one of them. Damn, how disgusting.

"But you're Mr. Daiba," she countered. "Aren't you?"

"Yeah," he whispered shakily. "But I'm still…" Someone believed in him. Someone who shouldn't have, who should have hated him. Little Mayu with her innocent mind and smile – why did she of all people trust him, when he was so similar to the ones that had hurt her?

"You look like them," she nodded, "But I can tell you're different. Your eyes aren't mean. They're just really sad. You don't need to be sad, Mr. Daiba. It's not fun. Being happy is much better."

"You don't have to call me, Mr. Daiba," he muttered, trying to hold back a sheepish smile. "Just Tadashi's fine."

Her eyes brightened. "Okay, Tadashi!"

"But the captain's still going to kill me if he finds out you're in here," he sighed, shaking his head. "He doesn't want me alone with anyone, and he'd probably take my head off for just breathing the same air as you."

"That's dumb." She stuck out her tongue in disapproval. "Harlock's being silly. If Daddy doesn't think anything's wrong, then nothing's wrong."

"Uh, alright." So he had a little girl and a sentient ship computer on his side. Fantastic.

"I really like your flowers," she smiled. "They're all so pretty."

Daiba wasn't exactly sure how he felt about his flowers, many of which he'd made unintentionally, being called pretty. He wasn't even comfortable with them being called _his_ flowers. "Th…thank you?" he managed.

"Can you make lots of different colors?"

"I guess." Allowing himself to scoot a bit closer, he carefully took one of the velvety red blossoms and urged it to grow a stem. Then he held it out toward her, the weight in his chest easing at the sight of her overjoyed smile.

Taking it, she laced the stem behind her ear to place the flower against her temple. The teen realized it was a bit odd, considering that flower had been colored with his blood. Mayu didn't need to know about that. When she looked back up to the elder boy, she giggled again. "You're blushing."

"Huh?"

"Your cheeks are kinda red." Daiba placed his hands to his face, confirming that it had warmed up considerably. It only made him blush more, and Mayu broke into a bright laugh. "That's funny, Tadashi. Hey, can you make me some more color flowers? I want to make you something."

"Like a flower necklace?"

"Can you make them too?" she gasped. "Let's both make one. And I can make one for Harlock. You should make one for Miss. Yuki. I bet she'd think it was really pretty."

The Mazone ducked behind his mossy bangs. "I don't think Kei wants any flowers."

"You should give her happy flowers. You make lots of sad flowers, and they're pretty too, but happy flowers are prettier."

"You can understand them?" he frowned as he closed his hands, growing a new bud.

"Kind of. It's easy to see when they're happy or sad though. Don't they just look like they are?"

Daiba nodded, handing her an orange flower. He'd never noticed as a human though. Flowers had always just been flowers until he'd been given this body. But he'd never been all that perceptive, and Mayu certainly was.

After he made a few dozen rainbow blossoms, he began to feel drained by it. Of course, he realized, he couldn't just create matter without putting something into it. Putting something into it…like his skin? Alright, he needed to stop thinking about the science of his weird new species.

But he needed to eat or…something to keep his strength. But he didn't feel hungry. He was getting pretty damn dehydrated, and there was something else…something.

Instead of bothering to fix that, he began to weave together the flowers he'd made, which was still strange to think about. Maybe if he stopped doing weird things, he'd pass for a human better, but it all felt so natural, so normal.

"So, if you're a plant," Mayu began as she looked over a finished necklace. "And these flowers are plants. Does that mean that if you make them, they're your babies?"

The green boy found himself choking on nothing. "N-no! Not at all!" Actually, he was pretty sure most plants used flowers for something related. He decided to push that thought away too.

"That would be cute though," the girl hummed. "Little flowery babies."

"Please stop talking about that."

"Can you have babies? I mean, you'd have to somehow because the Mazone must have babies. You know, I never saw a boy Mazone. They were all girls. Are there any nice Mazone girls you could marry so you could have flower babies together?"

The teen's face burned. Wasn't she too young to know about that sort of thing? "I-I really don't want a wife o-or babies," he squeaked.

"But maybe Mazone babies are really cute."

Daiba was coming closer to having a minor breakdown. "I don't think so."

"Can you make fruits and vegetables too?"

"No…" He was pretty sure he couldn't anyway. "Uh, which flowers do you think Kei would like?"

"The pink ones," Mayu nodded, sure of her decision. "What do those ones mean?"

"Beauty," Daiba mumbled, his cheeks warming.

"Then those are perfect!" the girl cooed. "Miss Kei's so pretty, isn't she?"

"Y-yeah…" He still felt he had a chance to win her over. Maybe he'd lost everyone else, but Kei would accept him. She just needed a little time and maybe a couple bribes.

"We should make a necklace for Daddy!" Mayu cried in sudden excitement. "Make a bunch more flowers, Tadashi!"

"I don't think I can make any more right now," he laughed, ruffling her hair. "But I'll make some later so we can. We're going to need a lot of flowers to get around that, er, him."

"See?" she smiled warmly, relishing in his new disposition. "Being happy is better."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I guess you would know that better than any of us. I really don't understand why you're being so nice to me."

"Because I was worried about you. You couldn't play your music, and you looked so sad."

"Oh…you saw that?" He glanced back to his harmonica, still sitting on his bedside table. "Yeah, I can't… I don't know why…"

Crawling closer, she draped the lei around his neck. Then she pulled the ocarina from around hers and held it out to him. "You can play this if you want."

He squirmed in discomfort. That was hers, a gift from the captain. "I don't think I'll be able to," he mumbled. "Besides, I don't know how."

"I'll teach you. So here." She forced it into his hands, scolding, "Don't give up before you've even tried something."

"Alright-alright." He yanked his gloves off, taking the instrument. The smooth wood warmed to his touch. Though it was long-dead, this was something that had once breathed.

Mayu stared at his hands. "Did you know that your skin blends in with your uniform? They're almost the same color. You're really green, Tadashi."

"Thank you," he huffed dryly, moving the instrument's mouthpiece into place.

"Oh, I can teach you a song…" She trailed off as a mellow tune began to fill the room. "Wow! I thought you didn't know how to play!"

Daiba stopped, blinking in confusion. "I don't, but…I can feel how to. Nothing really makes sense anymore," he sighed.

"It's because it's a plant!" Mayu realized. "It's made from a tree, like you. You're like family."

A moment of silence passed as the teen attempted to process her statements. "I wouldn't say…family."

She giggled at the disturbed expression on his face. He was starting to think she was just saying all this to get a reaction out of him. "Okay," he began with a smirk, "since you 'taught' me ocarina, I'll teach you the harmonica."

Her eyes sparkled in amazement. "You could teach me?"

"Sure." He grabbed the silver instrument from his bedside table and placed it in her hands. "Not like I can get much use out of it anymore."

The young girl noticed the pain in his eyes as he spoke. "It's important to you, isn't it? Don't worry, Tadashi. I'll take care of it for you."

A sharp ringing noise stole his smile, coming closer, louder and louder with each nearing footstep. Daiba was frozen in terror while Mayu calmly placed the harmonica into the pocket of her dress. "I'll make sure he doesn't get mad at you," she assured the frightened teen.

As the captain stormed into his room, the Mazone was sure there was nothing Mayu could say that would keep him alive. Harlock immediately drew his gun, pointing it at his youngest crewman as he grabbed his goddaughter from the bed.

"Harlock!" Mayu began in a whine, but the captain wasn't paying attention to her.

"I gave you specific instructions," he hissed. "I told you exactly what was off limits to you. Was there some part of staying in your room alone that you didn't understand?"

"I-I didn't- I mean no!" Daiba stuttered, his eyes flicking between the gun and his captain's enraged expression. "I didn't touch her!" he swore.

Mayu kicked and squirmed, trapped under her godfather's arm. "Stop it!" she demanded.

"Then what did you think you were doing?" Harlock demanded.

"I don't know! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The teen cowered back.

"What do you mean, you don't know!?" The captain pressed the barrel of the gun to the Mazone's forehead. He'd just gotten Mayu back from them, just managed to make sure she was safe and healthy. He refused to take any chances with another one of _them_.

"I didn't hurt her!" Daiba gasped in terror. "I never hurt anyone! Captain, please!"

"Why don't I take you down to the brig so we can talk more easily?" the elder growled.

"Leave! Him! Alone!" Mayu screamed. "I was just talking to him! Stop being so mean! You're being a big stupid, Harlock! Stupid! Stupid! I hate you!"

The Arcadia's captain suddenly looked like a child who'd just been scolded. Hesitantly, he lowered and holstered his gun. His goddaughter hung limp against his arm, simmering in irritation. "Mayu," he began at length. "I told you not to go near him."

"Because you're dumb!" She stuck out her tongue at him. "I'm going to talk to him if I want to."

"But, Mayu," he attempted sternly. "You can't-"

"Because you're being a jerk for no reason! You be nice to Tadashi! He made me cute flower babies!"

"What?" Harlock blinked.

"T-they're not…babies, Mayu," Daiba whispered, placing his face in his hands.

"Okay, but they're cute," she insisted with a pout. "I made you a necklace, Harlock, but I'm not going to give it to you, because you are mean."

The captain still seemed confused, but guilt leaked into his expression. "I'm sorry," he gave in. "But both of you broke the rules I laid out for you, even if there was no malicious intent behind it."

"I broke the rules because it was the right thing," Mayu huffed. "Just like you do."

Harlock was at a loss for another scolding. He frowned down at her as he searched for an answer. "We don't know for sure that we can trust him, so don't talk to him by yourself again. Do you understand?"

She puffed her cheeks, pouting, but he glared down at her until she gave in with a curt nod. Then he turned to the Mazone. "I'll be back to talk to you in a moment."

"Yes sir," Daiba mumbled tiredly.

"You'd better not be mean," the girl warned as she was carried out. "If you do, we're not friends anymore!"

"Mayu, why are you up?" Harlock sighed. "It's time for bed."

"I'm not tired!"

The door closed behind them, and Daiba's shoulders dropped as the tension left his body. He began breathing normally again. Alright, the captain wasn't going to kill him, at least not right now. The man was probably going to come yell at him for a bit, but the teen could deal with that much.

He realized he was still holding the ocarina, and he uncomfortably held it out to the intimidating man once he stepped back inside. Harlock carefully took it, eyeing the Mazone. "You don't have an excuse for breaking the rules I laid out for you," the captain began. "I can't trust you, and I especially can't trust you around Mayu."

"I know," Daiba sighed. Picking up a flower, he began tugging its petals off. "I won't talk to her again."

"I want to trust you," the captain reminded him.

"But there's nothing I can do to prove myself, and I'm just one of them now."

"We don't have a choice but to see it that way. If it had been Kei or Yattaran, we'd be taking the same precautions. Daiba would probably have suggested we kill them already."

The teen's gaze fell, his mess of bangs dropping like a curtain to hide his expression. "You won't even acknowledge me. You won't even call me by my name."

"As far as I'm concerned right now, Daiba is dead."

The young male crushed the flower in his hand, his knuckles aching as he tightened his fist. "Does that make it easier?" he hissed. "It's easier to accept that I'm dead than that I'm one of those bastards?"

Harlock lowered his voice. "That's not it, and no matter what happened, I don't want to accept it." The Mazone glanced up in confusion as his captain turned away. "Because either way," the man murmured, "it's my fault for not holding on. If you are Daiba, then I'm sorry for that."

"Me too," the young pirate murmured as his captain disappeared behind the closing door. "I'm sorry I didn't die."

* * *

**Super angst muffin Daiba. I'd say things get better for him but...yeah, they don't. At least he has a friend.**

**And thank you guys so much for your reviews! It always slips my mind to reply to them, so I'll try remembering to put them here instead if that's okay.  
Thank you Aerandir and MissKei. Y'all are both as sweet as always.  
FreezingCold, I'm afraid I've never heard of Seamus, but if it's a good thing, I'm all for it ^^**

**Oh, and the flowers are:  
****1. Ipomoea (a moonflower dyed red due to his blood) = Hopelessness  
2. Pink Hibiscus = Rare Beauty**


	4. Breathe Under Darkness

**Cute siblings are really cute, okay? Okay. Enjoy your reading!**

* * *

Harlock set out a specific, straight rule for Mayu: Don't talk to the Mazone.

By the end of the first day, he gave in to his goddaughter's stubborn tendencies and changed the rule: Only talk to the Mazone if you're in my sight.

Daiba wasn't particularly fond of the rule. Being within the captain's sight meant a constant, threatening eye on him. "Make one wrong move," Harlock had said, "and I'll kill you." He always was straight and to the point.

But at least the teen had Mayu to keep him company.

"Tadashi," she sang as he stepped onto the bridge. "I learned a how to play something!"

"Did you?" he smiled. She trailed eagerly at his heels as he walked toward his post.

"Uh-huh, it's my ocarina song. I spent a long time figuring it out."

He plopped down into his seat only to find her crawling into his lap. The captain's disapproving gaze settled on the two. His goddaughter caught his eye and stuck out her tongue at him as she settled herself across her Daiba's lap. "He's just jealous," she whispered, giggling.

"Jealous?"

"Mm-hm, because I'm mad at him, and you're my new friend."

"Are you sure you're not just using me to get back at him?" the Mazone smirked, lightly pinching her cheek.

"Maybe a little," she grinned as she placed the harmonica to her lips to pick out her song. It was slow and disconnected, punctuated by the occasional wrong note, but Daiba felt like it was the prettiest thing he'd ever heard.

"Still don't have it perfect," the girl huffed once she was done, puffing her cheeks.

"You did amazing. You're picking it up fast. All it takes is practice. Once you get a feel for it and know where all the notes are, you'll be able to pick out anything you want easily."

She beamed under the compliments, happy to impress. "What's your favorite song, Tadashi? I want to learn that one next."

"Ah, alright, let's see…" He frowned, unsure how to teach her. Again, she handed him her ocarina, and after he removed his gloves, he easily found the tune for her, playing each note and waiting for her to find it on the harmonica before moving on to the next one.

"The difference is you've got more leeway with the harmonica," he noted. "Instead of playing each note individually you can sometimes just move up or down a row to get to them. Sounds more natural that way."

She nodded eagerly, pretending to completely understand. It was just easier than asking questions.

"Hey, did you give Miss Yuki her necklace yet?" the girl prodded in a whisper.

She sat across the room working on something, always working. Daiba hadn't talked to her since the first disaster. Of course he didn't want to keep it that way, but he was scared. A Mazone afraid of humans, it was almost funny to him. "If I say yes, will you believe me?"

"No, you gotta give it to her!" Mayu hissed, tugging on his hair as punishment, and partially because she liked the way it felt. It was soft like flower petals. "What if the flowers die before you give it to her? She's not gonna want dead flowers."

"Ow, hey," the green boy huffed. "They won't die. I can keep them alive for as long as I need to." Just by touching a wilting flower, he could easily bring it back to life, and he'd been working to keep the necklace from falling apart for when he did have the courage to give it to her. He wasn't exactly sure how the whole thing worked. Honesty, he didn't know how anything worked. It all came on instinct.

"Really?" Mayu blinked, always astounded by his abilities. "You'd make a good gardener, Tadashi."

"Um, thank you."

"Then you'd have lots of plant babies."

"We've been over this," he sighed.

"Okay, but you have to give her the necklace. If you don't…um…I'll do something! Something you won't like."

"Sounds scary," he laughed. "Alright-alright, I'll give it to her."

She nodded in approval before another wild thought struck her. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"You can turn green and like me, right?"

"You mean my skin? Yeah." Daiba wasn't sure he liked where this was going. He usually didn't, but Mayu always got a kick out of whatever games she could come up with.

"Can you be other colors? Like pink?"

He frowned. "I…might be able to." Yeah, he probably could. The Mazone often had varied skin colors, but the deeper green was his natural base.

Her expression lit up. "You have to try, Tadashi! It would be so cool!"

He sighed, his blood automatically shifting under his skin as he willed it to. He didn't really need to think about it. Sort of like walking, it just came naturally like everything else.

What he didn't know how to do was how to adjust the color correctly.

"That's too red," Mayu frowned as his skin became the color of his blood.

"Ah, oops." He tried to lighten it, but the green mixed in.

"Now you're brown," she giggled.

"Hang on, I'll get it."

"I wonder if you can make yourself pink with blue polka dots."

"I'm just trying to get one color right now." He finally hid the green, looking over his hands to make sure they were right. Yep, about the color of his old outfit.

"Cute!" Mayu squealed. "Okay, now you have to do polka dots."

"Oh jeez, uh…" Since only his hands and face were visible, he picked out a quarter-sized spot on one hand and began working on the color blue. "Will a light blue work?" he offered, finding it was the most he could do.

"Uh-huh. It's pretty."

The blue made his skin feel cooler, making it easy to know where he placed each one across his hands and face.

Mayu beamed at her new creation. "Oh-oh! Can you change your hair color too?"

He playfully stuck out his tongue at her. "No, I think you've had enough fun ordering me around."

"Aww, but you could make your hair purple."

"I can't change my hair color," he smirked, pinching both her cheeks. "Besides, the green looks good with the pink, doesn't it?"

She fell to a mess of giggles, batting his hands away. "No! It looks terrible."

"Oh, your words hurt me," he gasped overdramatically. "How will I ever cope?"

"You're so dumb, Tadashi." She reached up, taking her turn pinching the dots on his cheeks. The teen laughed as she tugged on his face, but when he glanced up, he found Kei smiling at them from her post, and he lost his concentration. "Aww, you're turning green again," Mayu pouted.

But his face was warm with a light blush. Even as he caught her eyes, the lady pirate didn't turn away from him. Everyone turned away from him. She widened her smile, her gaze trustingly warm against his. Then she slowly went back to work.

He needed to give her that necklace. That way he'd have an excuse to approach her and talk to her. Otherwise he was still too nervous.

"Hey… Hey!" Mayu pinched his cheeks hard, bringing his attention back to her.

"Ow, excuse you, little miss." He grabbed her hands and carefully pried them off, but to his surprise, he found her blushing and staring the skull on his uniform in order to avoid his eyes. "What is it?" he questioned, ruffling her hair.

"I was gonna ask you something, but I decided not to," she huffed.

"Aw, what is it? At this point I don't think you could shock me."

She picked up one of his gloves fiddling with it as she muttered her request.

"What's that?" He tilted his head, unable to hear.

Finally she looked up to him, determined. "W-will you be my big brother? I've never had one."

"Um…neither have I." He blinked, still trying to process the question. Be her brother? How was he supposed to do that?

"I mean," she mumbled, squirming under his gaze. "I've always wanted a brother…"

"Sure, uh, I can be your brother." If Harlock didn't kill him first. "Uh, how does that work?"

"I don't know," she confessed, furrowing her brow. "But you have to be a good big brother."

"Then you have to be a good little sister."

She finally relaxed, her usual smile returning. "I don't think that's one of the rules."

"Really? I thought you didn't know the rules."

"I know that's not one of them," she nodded assuredly as she pulled on his gloves. The ends of the fingers flopped emptily, and she placed her hands up beside her face, clawing with a childish "Rawr."

Daiba stiffened as Harlock stood suddenly from his high-backed chair and made his way over toward them. He didn't look angry, but he didn't look anything. It was so hard to tell what the captain was thinking, and the teen found himself on edge.

"It's time for breakfast," the captain said, scooping up his goddaughter.

Daiba blinked. That was it? No threats? No glares?

"Oh, I am really hungry," Mayu realized.

Harlock turned without so much as a glance to his youngest crewman and started toward the door. But he called back, "Are you going to eat?"

The Mazone couldn't even muster up a response. He captain had said something…normal to him.

The young girl peered over her godfather's shoulder. "Come on, Brother!" she called eagerly. "Let's eat!"

"Uh, I don't really…" But it was an invitation to be around them. He stood, following them in a slight daze. The captain was allowing him to be close to them without any tension. He was almost being accepted, and despite no one else in the halls offering the same consideration, he had the girl smiling over Harlock's shoulder at him, and maybe he was starting to have the captain and Kei as well.

They were starting to trust him, at least a little, because he wasn't one of the monsters. He wasn't the enemy, and for the first time he was starting to truly believe that.

Still, he wasn't human, and he turned down the offer of food. Despite that, he found a plate set in front of him as Mayu once more took her place in his lap. "You should eat," she scolded, holding up a skewered piece of ham for him.

"I don't eat," he shrugged. "Just water."

"But water tastes boring. You can still eat stuff."

"Not sure how my system would take that."

"Eat it," she prodded, waving her fork in front of his face.

He figured he was too willing to do what she wanted in order to please her, but he was a bit curious, so he gave in and took a careful bite. It was awful. Had ham always tasted so sickening? Still, he swallowed it, shuddering as he did so. "That's plenty of breakfast," he huffed.

Harlock, who had taken a seat across from them, watched him curiously. "You're just sustained by water?"

"I guess." Daiba shrugged. "Gotta do that whole photosynthetics or whatever."

"Photosynthesis," the captain corrected.

"Yeah that."

"What's that?" Mayu questioned.

"It's where I run on water and make oxygen and stuff."

"What's that?"

"Oxygen? It's the air you breathe."

"What air do you breathe?"

"Carbon dioxide."

"What's that?"

"Uh…it's the stuff you breathe out."

"But I thought I breathed oxie-gin."

"Uh, well, you'll learn this all in school later."

"Okay. It all sounds dumb."

"It is. Nothing you learn in school is important. You should just skip it."

"Okay."

The captain threw the teen an unamused frown as the plant tried to hide his smile.

Within a few minutes, he was particularly regretting eating. "I'm going to go vomit," he explained calmly as he picked up his little sister to remove her from his lap.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Before he could set her back down, she kissed his cheek. "Feel better then, Brother."

As though it had been her goal, his face lit up in a blush, and she giggled brightly. "Ahh, stop that," he squeaked, quickly settling her down and rushing from the room.

"Mayu," the captain began in a tired attempt to scold her.

"Isn't my brother so cute?" she cooed.

"I don't think I'm equipped to answer that."

"You know he is!"

Harlock decided just to leave her be as she hummed to herself and ate her eggs, kicking her feet to the familiar tune. If she was safe and happy, who was he to take that away from her? He just needed to keep a close eye on the Mazone. No matter how many assurances he received, he wasn't sure he'd ever trust the thing around her.

The Mazone himself had collapsed onto his bed after a rather unpleasant few minutes emptying his stomach and the excess blood from his body. Making flowers now was taking a lot out of him, so it was easier to just get rid of the blood without them. Actually, the whole ordeal had shot his energy, and he found himself drifting off against the cool bed sheets.

He caught sight of Kei's flowers sitting on his bedside table as his eyes slid shut. He'd give them to her when he woke up. Just a short nap was all he needed. Just to rest his eyes for a few minutes…

…What?

Where was he?

Oh, his room. Right. He'd come in here.

The lights had been on when he'd come in, but now they'd been shut off. Maybe the automatic system had done that…meaning most everyone was asleep for the night. But he'd gone to sleep right after breakfast, and he'd slept the whole night through previously.

God, his head was swimming. He fought sluggishly against it to drag himself into a sitting position. Maybe it was from too much sleep. Maybe Mazone could hibernate or something. Sure.

Usually Kei was still awake for a good portion of the night though. Hopefully he could still go talk to her, and there was probably someone else on the bridge keeping her company, so he wouldn't be breaking his rules.

He dangled his feet over the side of the bed and pushed himself into a standing position, his breath quickly rasping at the effort. He just needed to wake up a bit more was all. He took a gentle hold of the necklace and forced his heavy, aching limbs to move.

By the time he started down the hall, his knees were shaking. Without warning, blood began to drip from his mouth to splatter against the cold metal floor of the dimmed halls. Well, he hadn't gotten rid of any in hours, so it was to be expected. He was fine. He was…fine.

He continued to tell himself as much as he stumbled against the wall for support. He was just being weak. He needed to clean himself up or he'd freak Kei out.

"What's wrong, little Mazone?" an airy voice called.

The teen had to blink a few times to even out his vision. "Miime…" He managed a wobbly smile. "I'm not supposed to…to talk to anyone alone."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Why is it…that everyone who should hate me…doesn't?"

"Why should I hate you?" She stepped up to him, cupping his face to help him look up as he teetered on the edge of consciousness.

"I…" He didn't have the strength to answer her. Instead he held up the necklace as his blood spilled down onto her thin hands. "K-Kei," he breathed. "Give it…t-to her…"

Miime took it from him, leaving one hand against his face for him to lean on. "Slow down, little Mazone."

He noticed a withering bud. No, he couldn't have that. It had to be perfect for Kei. He reached out for it, bringing it back to a bright, beautiful blossom with a simple touch. Now she'd accept him. She wouldn't cry…because of him.

The ground rushed up to meet him, and he found himself resting against the icy, hard metal. Finally his breathing began to slow. Miime knelt beside him, her hand so warm against his numbing skin. "Hang on," she whispered soothingly. "We'll help you."

"It's…dark," he realized. That was why. The Arcadia was so dark. It was drowning him.

He couldn't breathe.

* * *

**People being happy in my story? NOT WHILE I'M AROUND! There's gotta be pain and crying.**

**Plantba sure is popular with the ladies. Not quite for the reasons he might hope, but he's popular. Oh, thanks for the reviews, loves!**


	5. Preserve Energy To Achieve Life

**Ugh, I've had a killer case of writer's block. So this chapter contains...sitting and talking. Just a whole bunch of it. I sure do like to write about Daiba in the infirmary. And Awkward Harlock, I like writing that too.**

* * *

Just when he'd started to feel calmer around his youngest crewman, Harlock found himself growing increasingly irritated with the teen.

"He's not here," Mayu frowned as she scanned the bridge. "You said he'd be here."

"I said he might be," the captain corrected.

The small girl dangled from his neck, sighing over the disappearance of her brother. "What if the ham made him really sick? Can I go check his room?"

"Not right now."

"Um, actually, Captain," Kei called, standing from her post. Mayu's expression brightened at the sight of the flower necklace in the older girl's hands, but Kei remained nervous. "He's with Zero right now."

Harlock blinked, lowering his goddaughter to the floor as he took in the information. "Watch her," he decided, nodding to the blonde. "Mayu, stay here."

"What? I wanna see Brother!"

"She'll be alright to see him," Kei agreed. Her captain threw her a look of disapproval, but she hardened her expression, staring him down. "He wanted to see her."

Harlock waited to see if she'd back down, but still, she held her ground, and he gave in with a slight nod. "Alright, come here then." He turned, the girl quickly rushing to follow. She barraged him with questions about her brother's condition that continued no matter how many times he insisted that he had no idea what was wrong.

Upon their arrival, the doctor glanced up from his sake but offered no immediate explanation. He appeared unusually drowsy, though the source was obvious – the melodic plucking of a lullaby from the Juran beside the sleeping Mazone.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten off to," Harlock said, eyeing her curiously.

"Kei requested that I keep him company," Miime explained, her soothing song continuing. "Because he was so alone."

Mayu raced to her brother's side, scrambling up onto the bed. "What's wrong with him?" she demanded, her eyes wide with worry as she examined him. The natural green of his skin had faded to a lighter hue, and his strangled breaths came with effort.

Zero breathed a tired sigh. "I'm not completely sure, but I have a guess."

"You're not sure?" Harlock frowned.

"I'm no expert in plants. Humans are more my forte, but I'm guessing this is pretty simple. Think about it, Captain. Plants need three things in particular to survive." He held up a finger. "Water." He held up a second. "Carbon dioxide." A third. "And-"

"Ground!" Mayu decided.

"Ah, well," the doctor blinked. "Yes, soil. Normally that's also necessary for plants, but not that one in this case. Then again, maybe that would help…"

"Just before he passed out, he said it was dark," Miime interjected softly.

Harlock's frown deepened. "Sunlight?" he realized. "But the Arcadia's lights contain artificial sunlight, don't they?"

Zero nodded, taking another quick drink. "Yes, but there's a catch there. The artificial sunlight is only a substitution of what _we'd_ need, not him. Plants take different nutrients from the sun."

"But Mazone ladies have spaceships," Mayu huffed.

"And they probably have their own means of artificial sunlight, the kind that they would need."

"Then we need to go find him a sun!" the girl decided. "And some ground!"

"I don't think he'd wish to be planted," Miime hummed in amusement.

"We're not going to stop anywhere until we reach Earth," the captain said, firm in his decision.

The doctor lowered his voice, making sure only the man beside him could hear. "I don't think he'll make it that long. He's been in and out of consciousness, but he's steadily getting worse."

"Can you give me an estimate?"

"Afraid not, but I wouldn't say he has long at this rate."

"We'll continue our course toward Earth then. We can't risk stopping."

Mayu would have argued with her godfather's decision, but her brother had commanded her attention. "Come on," she encouraged softly, watching his eyelids flutter. "Wake up, Brother."

He felt impossibly weak, and a weight crushed his chest, holding him down. But there was Mayu, his little sister. It was worth it to fight through the haze to see her. He managed a wobbly smile as she came into focus, and in return the worry eased from her face.

"Good morning," she cooed, grinning brightly down at him.

"Morning," he whispered.

"Did Miss Yuki like her flowers?"

Ah yes, straight to the important matters, Daiba thought. "I don't know. I wasn't the one who gave them to her."

"Aw, you chicken."

"I know," he sighed. He could feel the blood boiling and churning under his skin, but he fought back against it. He couldn't risk frightening his sister.

"Can you go stand by the window while we pass a sun?" she pleaded, her worry returning.

It took effort for him to raise his arm, as though an invisible weight fought against him. Sluggishly, he placed his hand atop her head. He didn't want for her to worry, no matter what truths he had to give her. "The ship is protected from outside interference. I wouldn't get anything from those suns."

"But you can get better from our sun, right? When we get to Earth?"

"Yeah." He wondered how far it was to Earth and what was going to happen to him in that time. Maybe if he'd fully been a plant he would have had the energy to spare for the trip, but as things were now, his human half was killing him. "It's just a couple more days, right?"

Mayu nodded, though she wasn't exactly sure how much longer it was going to be. She wondered why they even needed to go back to Earth. There were certainly better places to be than there. But if it made her brother feel better, then it was all worth it.

"You're gonna get better," she decided, catching his hand as it began to slip from her hair. He was much warmer than usual, almost as warm as a human. Usually he was cool like the Mazone.

"Are you going back to sleep already?" she protested as his eyelids began to fall once more. "You haven't given me a harmonica lesson yet, and it's time to get up."

"You're right. I'm sorry." But he could barely find the strength to talk anymore. Movement was impossible. He suddenly found himself afraid that the last few days of his life would be spent in flickers of consciousness. Awake for shorter and shorter spans of time until he finally wouldn't wake up at all.

No, he had to live. He had to live for her. She was counting on him to. If he could just hold on long enough to make it to Earth, if he could just make it that long, she wouldn't need to cry over him. He found it comforting, that there was at least one person who would mourn if he was gone, but he refused to let her.

Before his vision was completely gone, he caught sight of her pout and breathed a laugh. "I'll just rest for a little while," he murmured. "Then we can practice."

"Fine," she huffed, throwing a hug around his chest. It startled her to find a heartbeat drumming against her ear. "Are you sure Brother's not human?" she asked as he slipped into an uneasy sleep.

Her godfather scooped her up, placing her on his shoulder. "Not by definition."

"But he's got a heart. If you've got a heart, aren't you human?"

The doctor chuckled at her childishness. "The heart's just for pumping his blood. I guess you could call him a hybrid. That's probably the most accurate term."

As Harlock started to turn from the room, he found a sharp protest hitting the top of his head. "You haven't said goodbye to him," Mayu scolded, smacking him.

"He's asleep."

"You should still say goodbye. You're being rude. Give him a hug."

She was trying to make him be nicer to the plant, he realized. A hug wasn't going to happen, but to appease her, he reached out patted the sleeping boy's shoulder.

"Now say bye," she commanded.

"Goodbye…" he muttered.

"Say, 'goodbye, Daiba'."

Oh, so that was her plan. Fine. "Goodbye, plant Daiba." It's a good thing you're asleep, he added in his head. Calling the Mazone Daiba wasn't what bothered him. It had to have a name after all. Whether it was Daiba or not, it was now a Mazone named Daiba. He'd come to accept that much.

The problem was having Mayu order him around. Both Miime and the doctor were obviously amused. He needed to stop spoiling her so much.

"Okay, now let's go see Daddy," she decided, finally approving of his farewell. "I need to tell him we've got to hurry because Brother is sick."

Harlock wondered if she realized he'd be leaving her once they got to Earth. He hoped she didn't think she'd be staying with him, because he had to drop her off there, for her own sake. And Daiba…maybe he'd need to drop him off too. Perhaps she'd even be safer with her "brother" there to protect her, but could he chance that?

* * *

Daiba awoke earlier than the doctor expected, though the horrible retching that began as soon as the teen sat up explained it. Luckily Kei had taken Miime's place and was quick enough to grab the trash can for him.

"Is that all blood?" she questioned in mild terror.

The Mazone's attempt at confirmation was a slurred mess.

"He'd make a great blood donor if there wasn't so much plant matter mixed in," Zero added.

Kei sighed, worried about the teen's pallor, and reached out to rub circles into his back. "Don't strain yourself. Take it easy. Do you need some water?"

She was already a much better doctor than Zero, Daiba decided, and he adored her for it. Water sounded like heaven, so he croaked a yes at the offer.

As she returned to him with a glass, his hazy vision took in the bushel of pink flowers hanging around her neck. "Sorry," he murmured, smiling. "Guess it's pretty childish."

"What?" She glanced down to the necklace, realizing it was what he was referring to. "No, it's lovely!" She dabbed at the blood on his lips with a handkerchief between his sips of water. "Thank you for making it for me. I'm so sorry I ran away at first. I just… I don't know. I suppose I needed to grieve."

"Because I died?"

"Maybe," she frowned. "Because what you were died, but this is you now."

His throat tightened, and his chest warmed. "So you believe me then?" he asked, a plea in his voice.

She searched his eyes. "Yes. I'd always believed you. I didn't want to – I wanted to believe I'd wake up and you'd be just like you'd always been. But everything you've said has been so sincere. I can't possibly convince myself that it's an act." She smiled, pretending to be firm as she spoke. "It had better not be an act."

He laughed and shook his head. "I'm a terrible liar, Kei. You know that."

"True." She plopped down on the bed beside him, her smile fading. "It's going to be two days before we get to Earth. Are…are you going to make it?"

He couldn't answer. The urge to go back to sleep was already beginning to swallow him. He wondered, did you know when you were going to die? Did your body give you some sort of sign, some sort of message telling you it was the end? He only knew that he felt weak and he was getting weaker. Already he couldn't walk, and soon enough he wasn't going to be able to sit up on his own. The blood production was increasing, trying to make up for the energy he didn't have, but it was only killing him faster. He could at least feel that much.

"You can't…die," she whispered, her hand shaking as she placed it to his cheek. "I already lost you once, and I spent so much time that I shouldn't have afraid of you… You have to make it to Earth, a-and if you can't, we'll make the captain stop on a planet that you can see a sun on."

"Who's we?" the Mazone sighed. "You and Mayu and maybe Miime are the only ones on my side, and the captain's more concerned about Mayu's safety than anything. Anyway, he should be. I'm not as important as her. If I…If I can't make it, then it's my own fault."

"No…" the girl murmured shakily. "No, it's not your fault. None of this is your fault. If we could just stop for a few minutes-"

Daiba placed his arms around her and pulled her close. He wasn't sure which one of them he was doing it for, but human contact made his blood rush, made his body warm. As she held him tightly in return, he remembered what it truly felt like to be human again. It was strange to realize that he'd forgotten this warmth.

They both cried, Kei from fear, and Daiba from happiness. Even if he didn't make it to Earth, he'd at least have Kei to remember him. Above all else, he didn't want to be forgotten.

"We don't need to stop," he breathed. "It's going to be fine."

She hesitantly pulled away, keeping her hands on his shoulders. It seemed he'd fall back if she let go. Sleep was stealing him from her. "What does it feel like," she questioned softly, "to need the sun?"

His eyelids fell, but she led his cheek to her shoulder, cradling him as he murmured his answer. "It feels like no matter how bright a room is, everything is so dark that you have to swim through pitch-black just to be able to see. Everything is so cold, the air especially. I'm breathing…but I'm not taking in any breath. I just want to lie down somewhere that it's warm." He leaned into the buds surrounding her neck. "And I want to breathe."

"Hang on," she commanded gently, carding her fingers through his hair. "You just stay with us, and we'll get you to the sun."

For once, the nightmares didn't come. He dreamed of the Earth, of the Sun. The rolling hills covered in flowers and the trees that breathed just like him filled his mind. No wonder the Mazone were so interested in the Earth. It was such a beautiful, warm place. The people were a bit of a nuisance though.

"Brother," Mayu called. "Brother!" He looked around the rusting grasses of the hillside, wondering where she was. "Wake up!"

His eyes opened to find her leaning over him, frowning. "Morning," he whispered hoarsely.

The worry in her eyes didn't let up. "I thought you were gonna sleep forever, Brother. It's time for bed now."

"I was awake earlier, when Kei was here."

"That was hours ago. I told Daddy to get us back to Earth fast, but you can't sleep too much."

"Sorry," he sighed. "Just so tired. I was having a nice dream though."

"Well, I'm sorry I took you away from it, but you made me worried," the girl huffed, moving his arm out enough that she could curl up in its crook. She snuggled against his side until she was comfortable, unbothered by her godfather's protest.

"Mayu, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep here tonight," she decided.

"You said you wanted to tell him goodnight. You didn't say anything about this," Harlock countered, his arms folding across his chest.

"Brother is cuddly," she argued in return.

Daiba himself wasn't feeling completely lucid and wondered vaguely what was happening as he tried to fight off sleep. His little sister was arguing with the captain about something, though the young Mazone wasn't sure why. The captain always seemed to lose arguments against Mayu. In fact, she was the one person that he'd actually seen truly overpower Harlock.

The teen decided to close his eyes for a second while the two duked it out. Just one second… Or maybe it was a bit longer than that, since the lights were off and the room was quiet when he opened them. That small bundle of warmth had remained at his side though, sleeping soundly.

Across the room he found his captain, dozing in a chair. The man still looked slightly ticked off about something, even when he slept. Though he did look slightly smaller, probably because his cape was gone.

Daiba blinked at the blanket he realized was covering him and Mayu, slowly coming to terms with it not actually being a blanket. It worked just as well though.

He wasn't sure what had woken him up this time. There was…something off. He grasped for the nagging feeling, trying to understand what it could be, but his exhaustion dragged him down. As he faded back into a pleasant dream, he hoped he wouldn't cough up any blood on his captain's cape.

* * *

**I have an odd fixation with that cape. The moral of every story is that space pirates don't hug...unless I want them to.**

**Ahh, thanks for all your reviews that you gave me forever ago. You're all so sweet! I was surprised that none of you seemed to realize why he'd collapsed. I though I'd made it too obvious that he needed sunlight haha. I kept mentioning photosynthesis and everything. Then next chapter should be the last one, so hang in there for me. I'll try to get it written soon!**


	6. Sleep Peacefully, Rest, It's Now Goodbye

**Wahh, I finished. I was so torn on how to end this one. I kept flipping back and forth on what type of ending I wanted, but I finally settled, and it was on the one I hadn't been planning to use from the very beginning. **

**Thank you so much for sticking to the end. I hope you like it!**

* * *

The Arcadia had been surprisingly easy to infiltrate. Despite how much trouble it had given them in battle, it appeared its defenses were not as formidable as its offenses. Perhaps the pawn their commander had put into play had caused enough of a distraction to allow the green-skinned woman easy access. At least it had bothered to do something right. Never send a half-breed freak male to do a pureblood woman's job, she thought as she crawled her way through the underbelly of the ship.

She'd simply have to get rid of him along with all the others. A few well-placed explosives ought to do the trick. And once they were all set up, she could spend her last hours prowling the ship and taking out the trouble-makers one at a time. Her mission had been a one-way trip, but that didn't bother her. Victory. If not victory, then death. It was time the pawn learned that much.

He must have been asleep, because she couldn't feel his presence. She would have thought him dead if not for a short span of wakefulness that brought their attention to one another. For a moment she wondered if he'd give her away, but he was gone again before she'd even finished the thought.

Honestly, it was surprising he'd lasted so long. His orders had been to kill the Arcadia's crew immediately. Part of that was to finally be rid of the pirates, but the immediacy was also necessary because of how frail the body they'd given him was. He couldn't last long without a sun, a fact the woman knew all too well. Even though she'd only arrived hours before, she could already feel the darkness of this ship. Hopefully he'd suffered for his treachery.

The explosives she placed about the bottom corridors of the ship had been designed to be undetectable. They wouldn't show up on any scans and were nicely camouflaged. This would teach those scoundrels. Once she had them all set up and the timer counting down, she decided she'd pay a visit to her brethren. He really didn't deserve such a title though. He was more like the black sheep of the family than anything.

Stealth was her brigade's specialty, but it was child's play to move through the ship undetected while the crew mostly slept. She headed up toward the direction she'd felt that light presence coming from. Curiosity had taken hold, and she simply had to know what had become of their doll. It was time for him to be completely broken.

* * *

It was simple to wake Harlock. The lightest tap on the shoulder could rouse him unless he hadn't been getting decent sleep, in which case he could hibernate like a bear. But recently his sleep schedule had been sufficient, and just calling his name would have been enough.

Mayu apparently didn't think so. "Harlock! Harlock!" She tugged on his arm as though she were ringing a church bell. "Brother is having a bad dream!"

He bit back questioning exactly what she wanted him to do about that as he saw her terrified expression. Across the room, the sleeping boy gasped in a desperate bid for breath. Each wheeze sounded as though it hurt him, and his face reflected it with twinges of pain. He shuddered and fought, a whine escaping him every few seconds.

"I can't wake him up!" Mayu cried.

Harlock wasn't sure if waking the Mazone up would save him from this "bad dream."

"I can go ask Zero if there's something he could use to calm him down," the captain offered. He hesitated for an instant, unsure about leaving her alone with him. A line of blood began to trail from the corner of the dying boy's mouth, and as though a switch had been flipped, the captain shook himself free of the worry. Daiba wouldn't harm her.

"Stay and watch him," Harlock said to his goddaughter as he stood. "I'll be right back."

Mayu nodded and ran back to her brother's side, scrambling up on the bed as her godfather disappeared into the hallway. "Don't be scared, brother," she pleaded, gently shaking him. "It's just a bad dream. I'll make sure it doesn't hurt you. Just wake up."

But no matter what she said, he slept on. Trying to shake him any harder caused him to cry out, so she curled up next to him instead. She thought about what could make him feel better, realizing it was just the same as what made her feel better.

As she hummed his song, just over his piteous whimpers, she imagined how it was played on the harmonica. She didn't have the instrument with her, but she'd learned the song perfectly, just for him.

Her lullaby cut off with a surprised squeak as he sat up, coughing and hacking horribly. She couldn't see as he held her tightly to his chest, his whole body shaking around her. It sounded really gross though.

"Are you okay?" she asked timidly when she thought he was done.

"Sorry-sorry," he gasped unevenly. "It was just- oh…o-oh no. W-where's Harlock?"

"It's okay!"she chirped, pulling back in order to see him. "He told me to stay here with you. Ah! Brother, there's blood on your face!" There was actually an unhealthy amount of blood smeared across his jaw, but that didn't seem to be bothering him. His eyes darted around the room like a trapped animal's.

"One of them is here," he murmured as he dropped his feet to dangle over the floor. Walking had previously been out of the question, and walking while carrying Mayu was likely impossible, but he couldn't let her run off alone while one of them was nearby.

Placing weight on his legs sent knives up through them. He nearly fell over as soon as he stood, but he fought the weakness that consumed him and took a step forward. Each movement was like hitting a bad tooth with something sweet. They stunned him, continuing to surprise him with pain.

"What's going on?" Mayu frowned, gently tugging on his hair. "You're not supposed to be out of bed, Brother."

He wasn't sure what kept him moving, maybe it was adrenaline or worry for his little sister. His legs urged him to just collapse, even as his hand reached the door. Finally, his screaming, aching body won out. The door was locked against his desperate tugging, and he fell against it, sinking to the floor.

"Close your eyes, Mayu," he whispered, his voice shaking from exhaustion and hints of fear.

"What for?"

"Just stay close and shut your eyes," he pleaded.

He forced himself to turn until his back was against the door. Thankfully she hadn't seen the third figure now standing in the room. He wouldn't be able to keep it a secret, but maybe he could at least spare his sister the sight.

How the female Mazone had gotten in, Daiba wasn't sure. She looked a few years older than him, her eyes an inky black and her lengthy hair drawn up in a tie, though everything else about her mimicked him. She eyed him curiously, taking in the way he protectively held the small human.

"It seems you've malfunctioned," she noted. "Luckily, you will be terminated."

Mayu tried to tear away from him to see the sudden intruder, but he held her tightly, whispering an uneven "shh." "Just close your eyes," he pleaded. "I'll protect you."

"How strange," the woman mused. "I suppose the brainwashing didn't have quite the effect it was intended. You're much too soft, caring for humans."

"Don't you dare try to hurt them," Daiba growled, glaring up at her as though he had the strength to back up his words.

She tilted her head slightly, her expression unchanging. "Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Little doll, your body is falling apart, and even if it were not, you would still be unable to do me harm."

"Maybe there's no reason to be afraid of me, but there sure as hell are other people on this ship to be afraid of. But I think you're underestimating me. You didn't design me to last. You designed me to kill, remember?"

He was stalling. It was all he knew to do. He had no weapon or defenses, and one shot would be enough to pierce through both him and Mayu with their vulnerable position. Someone would have to notice that something was wrong. Someone had to come by to check on them. It was the only way he'd be able to get Mayu out of this.

"Yes," the female nodded. "And had you completed your mission properly, the commander would have happily rewarded you for it. I never expected you would though. It is a foolish plan to put trust in anything that is partially human. You are useless creatures, and it is merciful to the universe for us to eradicate you."

"No!" Mayu retaliated, breaking through Daiba's weakening arms to glare hatefully at the intruder. "Brother is a good person! He makes pretty flowers and pretty music! And Harlock is a good person! And so is Miss Kei! People are good. You're the mean ones." She shook in fear under the all too familiar gaze of a Mazone woman, but if her brother could be brave, then so could she.

Daiba sat there, awestruck. They'd both referred to him as human. He was human in the eyes of the Mazone. It was a liberating idea.

The intruder breathed a sigh though her nose. "Do not be foolish, small human. Your kind is cruel and despicable. You make too many mistakes. Not a single one of you is pure."

"Why should it matter?" Daiba hissed. "You're no better than us. No one's perfect, and your stupid ideal of it doesn't make you superior."

The Mazone woman watched him for a moment in silence. He made no sense to her, nothing but a little rambling fool, crazy like all the other humans. It disgusted her that such a thing shared her makeup. "At this moment, to us, it does not matter. Soon enough, our lives will all be forfeit for the Mazone Empire."

Daiba didn't like the way that sounded. Were there more Mazone around? Were they headed into a trap? They were so close to Earth, and he was so painfully tired. Despite the danger, it was hard not to just fall asleep.

"S-stay awake, Brother," Mayu begged in terror as his chin began to droop.

"You really aren't worth my time," the Mazone woman frowned. To Daiba, her voice was nothing but a dull buzz. It was so hard to focus, so much more comfortable just to close his eyes. Just as he began to doze, the comfortable bundle in his arms was torn away, and his head jerked back up.

"Awake now?" the intruder smiled, her insect-like eyes dark with malice. She held Mayu by the throat as the girl struggled to hold herself up against the Mazone's wrist in order to breathe.

"Put her down!" Daiba gasped as he desperately tried to regain his feet. His legs could no longer support him, and he fell with each attempt, bruising his knees against the metal. "Hurt her, and I will end you!"

"It doesn't matter," the woman reminded him. "We'll all be dead soon. Killing her now is merciful. Otherwise she could be sucked out into space." She tightened her grip on the girl's throat until the frightened whimpers became crushed choking sounds.

The girl's wide, tear-filled eye met her brother's, and his vision flashed red. The unnatural blood within his veins broiled as rage caused him to overheat. No one hurt Mayu. He would protect her, and this bitch was going to die.

"Let go!" Daiba roared, violently gripping the metal floor in front of him. "Don't you touch my sister!"

To the Mazone officer, flower manipulation was barbaric, like cutting someone down with a guillotine. So as the red blossoms appeared beneath her feet, scurrying up and around her legs just like the spiders they were named after, she was too startled to fight back immediately.

Then the thorns grew from the twisted stems, tearing into her legs. As a reflex, she dropped the girl, her hand going for her gun before it too could be covered in brambles.

"Mayu," Daiba panted, blood dripping gruesomely from his mouth. "Close your eyes."

Too frightened to do anything else, she curled into a ball and hid her eyes against her knees. She heard a gun blast followed by agonized screams. Finally she put her hands over her ears, hoping she wouldn't hear anything else.

Daiba's flowers had completely encased the intruder up to her neck. She could no longer hope to escape, and the boy took notice of the pain and desperation in her eyes. "Sorry," he whispered, one hand clutched over the hole in his stomach. "That was a bit brutal. I'll make this quick."

He had to make it quick. His time was almost up.

As the door suddenly opened behind him, he closed his hand into a fist. The telltale scream of a Mazone dying filled the room as blue flames turned her to ash and covered the flowers that had caused her death.

Harlock caught his youngest crewman as he collapsed to the side and yelled for his goddaughter. Mayu's head shot up. "Harlock!" she cried in relief, rushing to cower against him.

He'd been gone for five minutes. He just couldn't leave his kids anywhere.

"Daiba," he called, placing his hand over the wound. There was nothing he could do now. The shot was fatal, and the boy wasn't going to last much longer.

His crewman winced but smiled up at him, just happy to hear his name. A comforting but heavy weight pressed down on him, and warmth spread out across his body. Soon enough the flames would come to claim him too. He could feel them under his skin, just like his blood. He was dying. Yes. Maybe.

"Brother?" Mayu called timidly. "A-are you okay?"

No, but that was fine. "Can you hum me that song again?" he requested, his voice a raspy whisper.

"W-why?" It sounded like a final request. Her brother couldn't die. She refused, but he kept smiling.

"It gives me strength." It would keep him breathing for now, just long enough to try something. The captain grabbed his hand to stop him from reaching out as one of the lilies bowed toward them, listening to his call as it bathed in the flames.

"It's okay," Daiba assured him. "It's my last chance." His skin was beginning to sting from heat. He was running out of time.

Mayu began to hum, the notes held out too long or too short, the pitches off due to her nerves. To Daiba, it was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard.

The lilies all bowed to him, reaching out to his hand. To Harlock's amazement, the flowers weren't being burned. As soon as Daiba's hand connected, the flames tore up his arm. "Don't worry," he murmured. "They won't hurt you."

"How?" Harlock questioned, dumbfounded. If a Mazone blew up, the blast would have killed them. Why should these flames be any different? When they neared him, they didn't latch onto his clothes or burn. They certainly felt hot, and yet Daiba didn't appear to be in any pain, even as they covered the entirety of his skin.

"The flames aren't our death," the Mazone boy smiled, finally understanding. "They're our life escaping us. This is what kept her alive, so I'm hoping it will do the same for me."

Mayu was too happy to focus on singing anymore. She cried out hopefully as she saw the gun blast in his stomach close off. The green of his skin slowly returned to its healthier hue, and he took a deep lungful of air as the flames dissipated. It wasn't dark. He could breathe. The flowers of death crumbled away along with their thorns.

"Brother!" Mayu sobbed happily, tackling him in a hug.

"Sorry I keep scaring you like that," he whispered, hugging her tightly back. "It'll be the last time." Taking her hand, he held his over her palm. Her eyes shone with joy as his hand moved to reveal dozens of purple buds in a miniature bouquet. He ruffled her hair and stood, but she latched onto his legs, refusing to let him go anywhere.

He honestly didn't mind.

"Captain," he called, motioning the man to pull in close. He kept his voice low. "Don't want to freak out Mayu, but there are a bunch of bombs in the cargo hold of the ship."

"What?" Harlock frowned, already pulling out his communicator.

"We've got about another hour, but there are ten there."

"How do you know?"

"I got some of that Mazone's memories though the fire. It was weird. Remind me not to do that again."

"Then don't get yourself nearly killed again," the captain smirked, shaking his head. Before rushing off to the cargo hold, he gave a quick nod to both of his kids.

* * *

"You're green!" one of the children called in amazement.

Daiba was getting tired of hearing that. Obviously he was green. It didn't take a genius to notice that. "Yeah, and you're ugly, but you don't see me pointing that out," he grumbled.

His captain threw him a firm glare of disapproval.

"This is my brother," Mayu explained, grabbing the taller boy's hand. "He can make flowers!"

The Mazone was feeling somewhat like a circus attraction, but at least the kids seemed to be interested instead of afraid.

Harlock watched in amusement as the children pulled Daiba's hair until the teen's temper flared, and he scared them all away. Mayu scolded him, smacking his head. The captain was just happy to see that she'd have someone to look after her and keep her company.

The Earth's sun had brought Daiba completely back to life, and they couldn't risk taking him from it again. He would have to stay on Earth as well, but he had someone to look after, someone to keep him company as well. Neither of them had looked angry when they realized they were being dropped off.

He'd come back to see them once the war was over and they were safe. In the meantime he'd look for a cure to the steady ticking away of Daiba's life. His body hadn't been made to last, but there had to be something. No matter what the doctor said, there had to be a cure.

If there wasn't… at least he'd spend his last few years happy with his little sister. And he did look happy. They both did.

"Harlock-Harlock!" Mayu cried joyfully. "Look!"

Daiba placed his hands to the ground, breathing life into the earth. A sea of flowers crawled up in hundreds of brilliant shades. "Happy flowers!" Mayu cooed, twirling her way through them.

The children returned one by one to play alongside her and to talk to the strange, green human. As he presented a young girl with a flower, she eagerly hugged him in return before rushing off to play.

The sun was bright, and the flowers tinged the air sweetly as they waved goodbye to the Arcadia. He stared out at the sky even after he couldn't see the ship, brought back only when the children yelled.

"Come inside, big brother!" they all called.

He turned, his chest feeling warm. Mayu ran up to him, taking his hand to lead the way. He remember what it felt like to be human and to have a family, and finally, he truly felt he had both.

* * *

**Gosh, haven't done a purely happy ending in a while... and really this one's not purely happy either. I guess I'm incapable of that. I hope it's alright. I know I made up quite a bit for the Mazone. Me and my weird headcanons. Hopefully I didn't clash too badly with canon at any point.**

**The flower Daiba uses to kill the Mazone is a Red Spider Lily, which is a symbol of death in Eastern countries.  
The purple ones he gives Mayu are Heliotropes, which stand for devotion. **

**Thank you so much for reading!**


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